Recent Naruto Chapter

[catriana_fiction]

So folks, how do you feel about this week's chapter?

TBH? I'm rather sick of the SS/NH one sided love going on. The blind love Sakura and Hinata have for Sasuke and Naruto is bordering along the unhealthy. This is especially true for Sakura, who has already hurt her friends and Naruto with her actions. It feels like both of them are in love with the idea of the two boys and not them.

Hinata has always admired Naruto from afar, she doesn't really know him on a personal level like Sakura. Sasuke is never going to be the 12 year old boy Sakura loved. They're both chasing shadows and it's becoming sad to look at. I'd like the possibility of SS/NH more if the boys had actually shown some sort of romantic interest towards them, but they're too busy focusing on what's important as opposed to their feelings for girls. Granted, Naruto has shown he still loves Sakura, but Sakura's not the one who really needs him, it's Sasuke.

Slowly but surely, Naruto's goals are beginning to become less selfless(although he still does stupid shit). This was shown when he spoke to the Kyuubi about getting rid of its hatred. I think, in the end, Naruto will want to change the shinobi world, to make it so that people like Sasuke never have to go through what he did, where the actions of others gave birth to a creature of hatred and vengance. When Naruto succeeds with Sasuke(It would be a very anti-climatic and disappointing Shonen series if Naruto failed to end the cycle of hatred and bring Sasuke back), I could see them working together for this goal. Only then could I see them actually focusing on romance.

It's disappointing that two strong females like Hinata and Sakura are still pining after boys who seem to have no romantic interest in them. Why is it that it's always the females in the series like this? I'd really like to see some equal opportunity here, some guys fighting for the love of their lives, or hoping to be with that special girl. When it's one-sided like this, it just makes them seem desperate, like they're hanging on to something they'll never have.

At this point, I will be very surprised if NH/SS happens. The guys just aren't interested, and Kishimoto prefers to troll instead of actually working out the relationship issue. I don't enjoy reading blatantly one sided love interests, especially when the fans get all up in arms and go "It's canon!"

No, it's not canon, it's just sad.

There's more chemistry with Neji and Kiba than SS/NH. Seriously.

Comments

[mayanara.livejournal.com]

KibaNeji...I LOLed so hard at those panels.

I totally agree with what you said. I completely fail to understand SS/NH's basis. At this point SasuNaruSasu is what actually makes sense. Though it's also one-sided up until this moment. However, Naruto is the main character in the series, it's more likely than not that he's going to get the person his heart desires.

As for female characters...I think it's kinda established by now that Kishi sucks in creating worthy women. Hinata has the abilities to be an extremely powerful fighter, yet, Pein had chucked her aside as if she was absolutely nothing. During the mission after Asuma's death, the only thing Ino did was scream "Shikamaru" every now and then. I liked Sakura's fight with Sasori, though. But even Tsunade was entirely useless when facing Orochimaru.

I mean, WTF. Is Temari the only strong character in this series? Why is Kishimoto constantly having women beaten down and held back by their feelings when it's obviously Naruto's passion that's making him stronger and pushing him forward?

I have to admit, however, that I was insanely relieved Neji didn't get thrust into the bad guys' lines, killed, or something equally horrible. I was extremely worried about that. *sighs*

[catriana-chan.livejournal.com]

SasuNaruSasu doesn't make any sense to me on a romantic level. I ignore the Anime, because the manga is the original, and it's been known for animators to take the anime in a completely different direction than the original artist intended. It's still 'canon', but yeah.

Naruto has shown no romantic interest in Sasuke, or in men in general. He seems to have a rather healthy love for females, standard for any teenage boy. Until Naruto's interest dips towards romance, SasuNaruSasu isn't realistic to me except as friendship. In the case of Sasuke, only two real romantic-like things have happened to him, and neither could be interperted as him having romantic feelings.

First was when he and Naruto accidently kissed and both of them reacted badly. Second was when he thanked Sakura. Fans have to twist both incidents to make them romantic, and they do.

So SasuNaruSasu falls under NH/SS in terms of realistically happening IMO. The only pairing that currently makes any sense to me would be ShikaTema, and only because of the way they reacted when Naruto implied they were a couple. It was vaguely reminiscent of AseKure, and we all know how that turned out. Still, Shikamaru had been more annoyed than embarrassed, whereas Temari's response was more questionable. They seem to have some sort of friendship going on, though.

Ino's done very well during this last battle, so I'm fine with her. She's proven herself. As for Hinata, no one could have stood up to Pein and really lived. Her strength was in actually standing up to him. Regardless, she did well during the last battle as well, being able to fight side by side with Neji against the Zetsu clones. Tenten still hasn't done much to prove herself to me IMO, so she's still branded as The Most Useless Rookie.

I'm also glad Neji didn't go to the dark side of the force, but this last chapter was anti-climatic as fuck. I think because of the whole "Oh, Sasuke, I still love you," and "Oh Naruto, I'm fighting for you!" bit from Sakura and Hinata.

I love Hinata's character but come on Kishimoto, she has her OWN strength now, can it not be about Naruto anymore?

[ero-chibi-chan.livejournal.com]

I am no longer reading Naruto out of enjoyment for the story. I stopped doing that a long time ago. Now, it's more that I'v been reading it for so long that I just have to see how it ends.

A friend of mine actually called me about the last chapter and I actually shrieked out a "WHAT?!" so this was a, for once, pleasant surprise. I think I may have actually been twiching after the last chapter.

While I still don't like Sakura, I will tip my hat to her for being able to tell it was a fake Neji. However, SS hasn't appealed to me since the original arc, and NH is beginning to die in my heart. I've actually come to accept that most of Kishimoto's females are useless in main battles and most of his males are Gary Stus.

I love the Neji and Kiba scene, though. I busted out laughing.

All in all, the entire series disappoints me. I just want to see how it ends.

[catriana-chan.livejournal.com]

I feel that way about Bleach, although I skip chapters often just because they're fucking pointless.

I hate how Kishimoto does females in this story and yeah, the guys are pretty much Gary Stus at this point.

Kiba/Neji tiems were funny. If only it could have been NejiSasu *sigh* Oh well.

[ero-chibi-chan.livejournal.com]

I actually still like Bleach. Give me time, though. It'll probabaly reach Naruto status soon.

Yeah... When they introduced the twins that had part of the Kyuubi's chakra because they part of his stomach but NO ONE ELSE COULD DO IT BECAUSE THEY'RE JUST SOOOOO SPESHUL I just kind of sat there blinking and went "What."

I feel ya. I actually told my friend that unless the explanation for Neji's apparent evil was Sasuke doing a mind-control jutsu with the sharingan, I wouldn't forgive Kishimoto (I'm sure he's absolutely distraught that I'm mad at him XD)

[fhclause.livejournal.com]

Yeah...seriously it's getting frustrating. But this is why it's shonen, not a shoujo I guess.

Which I am glad, because most shoujo are too cliche.

I think these one-sided love is what make Naruto different from other shonen manga though. Take Bleach for example. It's kinda obvious Orihime has a crush on Kurosaki. But in Aizen verse, there was a major Kurosaki-Rukia canon going on. They even sing a duet in the CD collection. But we can all see...or predict, Kurosaki are not gonna end up with anyone. As hopeful as the fans are, most heroes in shonen manga ends up being...I dunno the word...universal?

But in Naruto, it's because of these one-sided love that makes it different. You wouldn't know if Naruto ever gonna ended up with Hinata. Or Sakura. Or anyone. Or if Sasuke gonna end up with Sakura (heaven and hell forbid). Or Hinata. Or if he gonna go to a solo journey (I totally can see him doing that) in the end.

But those doesn't matter. In shonen, they focuses more on the fights and less about love.